RABAT, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Morocco’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.25 percent on Tuesday, saying inflation has slowed as a result of the decline in volatile food prices.

The bank, known as Bank al-Maghrib, said inflation fell from 1.9 percent in the first two months to 0.2 percent on average in the following six months in 2017.

As agricultural output rose from North Africa’s worst drought in decades last year, the bank said growth would jump to 4.3 percent this year from an estimated 1.2 percent in 2016. It is expected to reach 3.1 in 2018, the bank said. (Reporting By Zakia Abdennebi, writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Janet Lawrence)